Another Gaetz top aide abruptly quits — congressman hid resignation for a week

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A second top aide to Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has resigned amid the growing scandals of alleged child sex trafficking and a sexual relationship with a 17-year old.

Gaetz legislative aide Devin Murphy resigned last week on Friday, The New York Times reports. The Florida Republican hid the news which just broke for nearly a week.

Murphy, a highly-controversial staffer who was the subject of disturbing news reports in 2017, “told associates that he was interested in writing bills, not working at TMZ,” the Times reports, “equating the work that Mr. Gaetz’s aides were now handling to the tabloid publication, according to one of the people, who all asked not to be identified discussing a sensitive personnel matter.” Continue reading.

Police: Officer who shot Daunte Wright accidentally pulled gun instead of taser

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The officer who fatally shot a 20-year-old Black man outside Minneapolis Sunday appeared to have inadvertently pulled out her gun instead of a taser, police said. 

Driving the news: “This appears to me, from what I viewed in the officer’s reaction and distress immediately after, that this was an accidental discharge that resulted in the tragic death of Mr. Wright,” Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon told reporters Monday.

The backdrop: Daunte Wright, 20, was shot and killed during a traffic stop just before 2 p.m. Sunday, about 10 miles from where George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer last year. Continue reading.

Brooklyn Center police fatally shoot man, 20, inflaming tensions during the Derek Chauvin trial

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Man, 20, killed after being pulled over for traffic violation in Brooklyn Center 

A Brooklyn Center police officer fatally shot a man during a traffic stop Sunday afternoon, inflaming already raw tensions between police and community members in the midst of the Derek Chauvin trial.

Relatives of Daunte Wright, 20, who is Black, told a tense crowd gathered at the scene in the northern Minneapolis suburb Sunday afternoon that Wright drove for a short distance after he was shot, crashed his car, and died at the scene.

Protesters later walked to the Brooklyn Center police headquarters near N. 67th Avenue and N. Humboldt Avenue and were locked in a standoff with police in riot gear late Sunday night. Officers repeatedly ordered the crowd of about 500 to disperse as protesters chanted Wright’s name and climbed atop the police headquarters sign, by then covered in graffiti. Police used tear gas, flash bangs and rubber bullets on the crowd. Continue reading.

Trump officials celebrated efforts to change CDC reports on coronavirus, emails show

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Political appointees also tried to blunt scientific findings they deemed unfavorable to Trump, according to new documents from House probe.

Trump appointees in the Department of Health and Human Services last year privately touted their efforts to block or alter scientists’ reports on the coronavirus to more closely align with then-President Donald Trump’s more optimistic messages about the outbreak, according to newly released documents from congressional investigators.

The documents provide further insight into how senior Trump officials approached last year’s explosion of coronavirus cases in the United States. Even as career government scientists worked to combat the virus, a cadre of Trump appointees was attempting to blunt the scientists’ messages, edit their findings and equip the president with an alternate set of talking points.

Then-science adviser Paul Alexander wrote to then-HHS public affairs chief Michael Caputo on Sept. 9, 2020, touting two examples of where he said officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had bowed to his pressure and changed language in their reports, according to an email obtained by the House’s select subcommittee on the coronavirus outbreak. Continue reading.

DeSantis takes legal action against the CDC — but some legal experts believe it’s a ‘political stunt’

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is pushing back against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) extension of the pandemic-related “no-sail” order for cruise lines.

According to the Miami Herald, DeSantis has filed a lawsuit against the public health agency in an attempt to expedite cruise ships returning to sea. In a press conference held on Thursday, April 8, DeSantis was joined by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R), U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R), and Miami-Dade County Commission Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz (R) as he explained his reason for taking legal action.

“Today Florida is fighting back,” said DeSantis. “We don’t believe the federal government has the right to mothball a major industry for over a year based on very little evidence and very little data. I think we have a great chance for success.” Continue reading.

“Enough prayers”: Biden issues 6 executive orders to curb gun violence

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Calling America’s longstanding addiction to firearms, and the innumerable bodies left in its wake, an “epidemic,” President Biden on Thursday unveiled his administration’s first steps toward curbing gun violence, describing it as an “international embarrassment.” 

“It has to stop,” he declared in a Rose Garden address, flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris and Attorney General Merrick Garland.

During his remarks, the president also took a swipe at the perpetual inaction of Congress in the wake of each successive incident of gun violence. “They’ve offered plenty of thoughts and prayers,” he said. “But they have passed not a single new federal law to reduce gun violence.” Continue reading.

Trump faces test of power with early endorsements

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Former President Trump’s endorsements pose a test for him ahead of 2022 as he looks to flex his political muscle after leaving office.

The former president has thrown support behind conservative figures who have been particularly loyal to him, including Rep. Mo Brooks (R), who is running for Senate in Alabama, and former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who is running for governor of Arkansas.

Trump made his latest endorsements on Thursday, formally throwing his support behind one of his staunchest defenders, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) — who has yet to formally announce whether he is running for reelection — as well as Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).  Continue reading.

Gen. Flynn Repeatedly Took Foreign Payments Despite Official Warnings

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Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn is among the many allies of Donald Trump who faced criminal charges and was granted a presidential pardon while the former president was still in the White House. Flynn’s foreign interactions were a major source of controversy during the Trump years, and according to Guardianreporter Murray Waas, Flynn was warned about accepting foreign money even before Trump was elected president in 2016.

The office of the Defense Department’s inspector general, Waas reports, “has uncovered evidence that Michael Flynn accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from foreign interests and governments, despite repeated warnings by the DoD and the Justice Department that his conduct might be illegal.”

In 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during its investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. But Trump defended Flynn vigorously, claiming that his former national security adviser was a victim of political persecution from “the deep state.” Continue reading.

How Voting Laws Suppress the ‘New South’

GOP-backed proposals to restrict voting are steadily gaining traction across the Sun Belt, aiming to slow the effects of ongoing demographic shifts that favor Democrats.

LOOKING BACK IN AN election cycle or two, it may be that the political and economic fallout gripping Georgia today over its controversial new voter law proves to have been a sign of an inevitable march toward a very different electoral map.

The next frontier in the battle over voting rights is already creeping toward other states across the South and the Sun Belt that have two things in common: They are all seeing a similar rapid demographic shift in their electorates that stands to reimagine the American political landscape. And they have entrenched political interests trying to stop it.

After a year of record turnout, especially among voters of color in Southern states, and a barrage of unfounded fraud claims propagated by the former president, GOP-led state legislatures are leading the charge to challenge and amend voting laws. They saw their first big success last month in Georgia. That sweeping law among other things imposes identification requirements for absentee ballots, limits ballot drop boxes and shortens runoff elections. Continue reading.